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The weather continues to be a factor affecting fishing in the Ely area. This time it’s the wind that blew boats all over the lake and fish into the shorelines and/or deeper water. <BR><BR>Top walleye of the week was a 7 lb. 2 oz. Basswood beauty caught by Dick Brush of Green City, OH on a leech and checked in at Packsack Canoe Trips and Log Cabins.<BR><BR>Basswood was also the spot for Doug Booth of Lucasville, OH, with a 6 lb. 10 oz. walleye, also caught on a leech and weighed at Packsack Canoe Trips and Log Cabins.<BR><BR>And the third largest walleye came from …you guessed it, Basswood Lake as Doug Padgett came over from Tower and used a minnow to catch a 6 lb. 6 oz.

Good guides are busy people. Fisherfolk come up here from all over the country full of optimism after reading newspaper and magazine articles about the fabulous Ely area angling. And sometimes can’t find a fish.<BR><BR>What to do? Hire a guide.<BR><BR>How to do that? Guide services can be obtained through resorts and outfitters which advertise in the North Country Angler. Some are also listed at the Chamber of Commerce. Professional guides are darn good at what they do.<BR><BR>The father-son team of Steve and Chris Kleist are two of these. We had reason to use the services of Steve last week when we had visitors from Potomac, Maryland, Carl and Rosemary Bleschshmidt, my wife Edith’s brother-in-law and sister. They had one day to go fishing and we didn’t have permits or anything much else.

Getting out to ride ATVs is usually something we wait until the fall season to do. But an invitation to ride on a Saturday afternoon with some friends was too good to pass up.<BR><BR>We ended up with four wheelers going on a ride along old railroad grades and deer hunting trails. It was a blast.<BR><BR>Heading into the woods during a summer day is usually an invitation to be eaten alive by every bug within a 10-mile radius. But thanks to the presence of swarms of dragonflies, it wasn’t that bad. <BR><BR>We brought along a cooler and a chainsaw and both came in handy on the hot afternoon.

The water is still cold but the fishing is heating up in Ely area lakes.<BR><BR>Water temperatures have been reported as low as 61 degrees, nearly 10 degrees colder than the temps we had last year at this time. Ely scuba divers report water temps of 46 degrees at 60 feet down in Burntside Lake.<BR><BR>Monster walleyes continue to pound nearly everything thrown at them, from live bait to artificial lures.<BR><BR>The top walleye weighed in at 11 lb. 3 oz. and was caught in Lake Vermilion by Tom Poderzay of Soudan and registered at Vermilion Fuel and Food. <BR><BR>Son Donny Poderzay followed in dad’s footsteps, landing a 10 lb. 8 oz. walleye in Vermilion and registered the fish at Vermilion Fuel and Food.<BR><BR>Carol Kelley of Ely used a Rapala to land a 9 lb. 4 oz. walleye in Eagles Nest #1, weighing the fish in at Skube’s Bait and Tackle.<BR><BR>Right behind with an 8 lb. 9 oz.

Ely’s walleye pro, Jim Orcutt, competed at the In-Fisherman Professional Walleye Trail (PWT) contest a week ago at Cass Lake near Bemidji. There were 120 professional anglers in the tournament plus 120 amateurs. Each pro teamed up with an amateur for each of the three days.<BR><BR>In the pro ranks, Jim was 27th overall at the end of the first day. “At that point, I was doing pretty well,” he confided. “Then things went bad. The second day I was 67th and the third day finished 88th out of 120. Nine anglers scored limits. Ten pros didn’t catch a fish.”<BR><BR>Winner of the tournament was Dave Anderson of Walker, Minnesota, who no doubt knew the hot spots on Cass Lake. Walleyes had to be 15 inches or longer to count. Jim wasn’t discouraged by his finish, however, and is itching to get back into competition.<BR><BR>In the meantime, he’s guiding Ely anglers out of area resorts. As for his 88th place finish at Cass Lake?

There is one thing the best fishermen can’t buy, rent, borrow, steal or imitate. Luck. And the best kind of luck is kid luck. <BR><BR>I knew this before we even put the boat in the water Sunday afternoon. Kids and wives outfish dads and husbands on a regular basis. This day would be no different.<BR><BR>I was outnumbered two to one, kids to dads. Evan and Megan were chomping at the bit to go fishing and we finally were going to be able to get out on the water. <BR><BR>We had to stop at the gas station and the bait shop on the way to the landing. This was all part of the experience, of course. Seeing the minnows swimming around in the tanks is fun in its own right for a five and 11 year-old. Especially if you’re already wearing your life jacket. <BR><BR>Then there was the jig selection, “Get the white one, I like that color.” And of course we had to get some pop and ice for the cooler as well as a box of Everlasting Gobstoppers.

High water levels and increasing water temperatures brought out some whopper walleyes in the Ely area.<BR><BR>Leading the hit parade was a 10 lb. 8 oz. walleye that went 32 inches on the ruler, caught on a minnow by Kendal Glasener of Des Moines, IA in Little Long Lake and registered at Skube’s Bait and Tackle. <BR><BR>Just two inches shorter but also tipping the scales at 10 lb. 8 oz. was a walleye caught by Ryan Becker of Ossian, IA in Basswood Lake on a minnow and checked in at Packsack Canoe Trips and Log Cabins. <BR><BR>Six year-old Parker Scipioni of Hibbing caught a 30-inch walleye in White Iron Lake that tipped the scales at 7 lb. 10 oz. Parker used a minnow for bait and weighed in the fish at Skube’s Bait and Tackle. <BR><BR>Ron Saver of Inver Grove Heights, MN used a Rapala to land a 6 lb. 5 oz.

This weekend is the annual Ely Jaycee’s “Take a Kid Fishing” event. On Saturday, June 12, kids will be loaded up in boats to fish Farm and Garden lakes for the day.<BR><BR>What a great way for a kid to spend the day, enjoying life on the water and getting a chance to catch a fish to boot. <BR><BR>Kids can be dropped off at the Ely Dairy Queen on Saturday at 8:45 a.m. The group will then leave promptly at 9 a.m. for fishing holes on Farm and Garden lakes. <BR><BR>The group fishes out of two pontoon boats a donation from The Great Outdoors. The trip includes lunch at Timber Trail Lodge, provided by the Ely Dairy Queen. <BR><BR>Lessons in boat safety and pointers for those who haven’t fished before are included and if the water is warm enough, swimming at Timber Trail Lodge. <BR><BR>Kids should bring life jackets if they have one or one will be provided, a swim suit, towel and jacket just in case of inclement weather.

It’s a big woods. Especially at night when it’s raining and there is no trail or other indication as to how to get out of it. Just trees, rain, bugs, total darkness and silence.<BR><BR>This was the situation faced by a young man who became lost in the woods looking for a remote wilderness walleye lake last week. He and a companion started out, both young men in their teens, with a yen to find that secret walleye bonanza we all hear about.<BR><BR> They portaged into Wind Lake, then took the trail to Washte Lake. Their goal was Witness Lake, reportedly loaded with big walleyes. Only they couldn’t find the Witness Lake trail. After hunting around, one of the young men split off to “brush crash” the hills and either find Witness Lake or the trail to it. He found neither.<BR><BR> To keep track of each other, the young men yelled back and forth which worked fine until they got a ridge between them and communication ceased.